The glass industry has long had its work cut out for it
in recruiting fresh talent for highly specialized jobs. In an industry
in which it seems that new hires always come from a competitor, many industry
companies are exploring ways to attract qualified, young employees.

“Our human resources department has been actively recruiting,
a ‘younger’ base of new employees, with ‘new age’ skills, such as engineering,
CAD, computer, etc.,” says Arthur Berkowitz, president of J.E. Berkowitz
L.P. in Pedricktown, N.J. “[These are] primarily being added to our project
management/technical services and all glass engineering departments.”

Beverly C. Humenik, who is the human resource manager for
J.E. Berkowitz, is the first to say that finding new recruits to fulfill
the specialized needs of the glass fabrication company is no easy task.
“It’s very hard,” she says. “We have specialized departments that deal
with the storefronts and the all-glass doors, but it’s even harder to
find people with an architectural, technology or AutoCAD background. You
would think that would be easy, but right now it’s one of my most difficult
positions to fill.”

As a result, Humenik is stretching out creatively in her
recruitment efforts. For starters, she says, “We pretty much no longer
advertise in the actual newspaper, and it’s terrible to say because I
love to read the paper every day, but the younger generation doesn’t.
So we use the Internet, CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com, etc. Most recently
I posted an advertisement on LinkedIn. It was not as successful as I hoped
it would be—but the one response that I got is coming back in for a second
interview, so it may end up being well worth the fee to do that,” Humenik
says. She adds, “We also use a lot of Facebook, a lot of social networking.”

However, the company isn’t standing back and letting social
media do all of the recruiting work. Classic local advertising still works.
For example, Humenik has purchased tall, colorful, banner-style signs
for the facility that let people driving by know the company is hiring.
In addition, she has joined the mailing lists of local universities so
that she is alerted whenever a career fair is scheduled nearby. “I also
post on their sites about jobs,” she says.

Still, the extensive legwork is new for the company. “I’ve
been with the company for 19 years and when I first started, for several
years, it was strictly newspaper,” Humenik says.

Getting those new recruits is one thing; getting them involved
as industry professionals is another.

“We know that there are new professionals coming into the
industry every single day,” says Ashley Charest, account executive with
the Glass Association of North America (GANA). “Our challenge is to reach
out to companies and make sure that they find even a small way to get
those individuals involved, whether it’s task groups or a subcommittee
or even serving on our board. We’re seeing it, but we’re trying to find
a way within the association to get those new people involved, and encouraging
our current companies to get their new people involved in any way that
they can.”

James Wright, technical sales representative for Glass Coatings
and Concepts LLC in Monroe, Ohio, is still relatively new in his involvement
with GANA, a qualification that has led him to create a committee specifically
for educating and serving as a resource for the “new” glass industry.
“New” simply means the individual has fewer than five years in the glass
industry or fewer than five years with GANA.

“The objective of the committee is to get new professionals
together in one room,” Wright explains.

“We generally have two sessions in the committee meeting.
The first one is open to all GANA members, and we’ll have a presentation
or a more informative committee meeting. The second half is open just
to committee members … so we feel comfortable asking those questions we
feel might not be appropriate in a large committee meeting.” Wright adds,
“I imagine a lot of new professionals, especially me when I started, felt
a little intimidated asking a question or not knowing whether to vote
on a certain issue.”

Presentations in the past have covered tips on networking,
anti-trust issues and expectations of committee members.

The outreach effort seems to be working, Wright finds.

“When I started attending GANA meetings, around 2009, I
looked around the room and saw maybe three or four members in my age group
in the 30 to 35 age range. Now I go to these meetings and, especially
at the last conference in Chicago, it seems like there’s now at least
15 in that age group. So it’s increased over the last four to five years,”
Wright says. He adds, “Some of the discussions that have come out of these
closed sessions have been great in getting the new members engaged and
encouraged so when they go to the networking receptions they reach out
andstart talking to some of the veteran committee members or chair people
that they see.” —Megan Headley

Corning and View Announce Collaboration
Corning, N.Y.-based Corning Inc. and Milpitas, Calif.-based View Inc.
have announced plans to collaborate. As part of their work together, Corning
is leading a Series E round of funding to support View’s development of
dynamic glass technology, according to the announcement. As part of the
transaction, Jeffrey W. Evenson, Corning’s senior vice president and operations
chief of staff, will now serve on View’s board of directors.

“We’re excited to collaborate with View,” says Martin Curran,
executive vice president and innovation officer for Corning. “While dynamic
glass has been in development for decades, we believe View’s unique approach
will finally bring this technology into the mainstream.”

“We’re thrilled and honored to be collaborating with Corning,
a world leader value added applications. Corning’s global presence, operating
expertise and technology resources will help us tremendously in advancing
our offerings,” adds Dr. Rao Mulpuri, CEO of View.

Tubelite Opens New Dallas/Fort Worth
Facility
Tubelite Inc. has completed the initial set-up of its new Texas facility
at 4900 Langdon Rd., Suite 500 Dallas, Texas 75241. The new facility is
now staffed and ready to service the company’s clients within the Texas
and South Central region.

“We are very pleased with how well everything went on the
project,” says Ken Werbowy, president of Tubelite. The new 27,500-square-foot building
area will provide on-site CNC machining for door and frame fabrication,
according to the company. Employees previously working out of the company’s
Mesquite, Texas, office in addition to several employees from the company’s
Walker, Mich., plant have transitioned to the new location.